Former Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars has broken his media silence in a rare interview with Kylie Olsson. He talked about the new album he has been working on and said whether he is happy with how his life has turned out.
Mars made clear what listeners can expect from the record and how it will differ from his work with Mötley Crüe.
“Well, my new record is finished,” Mars said. “Chris Collier did on for Korn and a lot of those heavier bands like that. I predict there’s going to be people that really go, ‘Wow, I didn’t know Mick could do that.’ And there’s people going to be like, ‘That doesn’t sound like Mötley Crüe.’ I don’t want it to sound like Mötley.”
When asked whether he is happy with how his life has turned out, Mars turned to his experience with ankylosing spondylitis.
“So are you happy how life has turned out?” the interviewer asked.
“Yes,” Mars said. “Not the AS though. That’s the demon that got me. The way I describe it to like my band cuz they don’t get it. I go, ‘Okay, try this. Take a 40 lb cinder block, put a band around your head with a chain and walk around with that rock.’ That is what it feels like. I got to hold my head up all the time. So, it’s like, you know, that’s what it feels like. You can’t bend your head up to see where you’re going. I can see the ground perfectly, of course.”
Those comments show how closely Mars’s health and his music are tied. They also explain why the new record matters to him as a creative statement outside the band he helped found.
Mars has lived with ankylosing spondylitis for most of his life. His back pain began when he was 14. He was not properly diagnosed until he was 27. The disease causes inflammation in the spine and can eventually fuse the vertebrae. Decades of symptoms shaped both his career and his daily routine.
That toll led to his decision in October 2022 to retire from touring with Mötley Crüe. Mars had been the band’s lead guitarist for more than 40 years. The group brought in John 5 to take his place on the road. The change became part of a wider split between Mars and his former bandmates.
Chris Collier, the producer Mars mentioned, has a long track record in heavy music. He worked on Korn’s records for years and moved up to producer on the band’s 2022 album Requiem. He has also worked with acts such as Prong, Lynch Mob, KXM and Whitesnake. Collier previously mixed and mastered Mars’s solo album The Other Side of Mars. The two already have a working relationship.
That background supports Mars’s claim that the new material will lean heavier and sound different from classic Mötley Crüe. Mars has not yet revealed a title or release date for the record. Fans will have to wait for more details.
